News / MSC vessel to omit US east coast calls for Halifax on inducement

Photo: VesselFinder

As the clock ticks down to the midnight expiration of the current ILA-USMX master contract, The Loadstar has received the first confirmation of a container vessel skipping its scheduled US east coast calls.

Destine Ozuygur, head of operations and forecasting at liner database eeSea told The Loadstar that the 3,400 teu MSC Sagitta, deployed on MSC’s intra-Americas Canada Gulf Service was the first confirmed ship to make “a ‘true’ inducement call to Halifax and omitting her two US east coast ports along the way, although she was still slated to visit three Canadian ports by proforma,” she said.

However, the list of services that have been rationalising port calls across the US eastern seaboard over the past few days has risen measurably, resembling a “port-hopping” strategy outlined by Yang Ming president Cliff Pai in a Loadstar report last week.

“[That] was a great way of coining the common strategy – most carriers have announced omissions of some, not all, ports on their east coast rotations, and THE Alliance was among the first to exhibit those signs earlier last week,” she added.

Ms Ozuygur explained that on 25 September, eeSea analysts had pinpointed five vessels that were switching US calls.

“That list has grown to a minimum of 34 through today,” she said.

“If the strike persists for more than 24-48hrs it’s likely we will abandon manual upkeep of this list as a remarkable number of vessels will continue to be impacted,” she added.

In a separate development, the US Chamber of Commerce this afternoon called on president Biden to invoke the Taft-Hartley act to avert any form of stoppage.

“Americans experienced the pain of delays and shortages of goods during the pandemic-era supply chain backlogs in 2021. It would be unconscionable to allow a contract dispute to inflict such a shock to our economy,” said Suzanne Clark, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, in a letter to the president.

“Taft-Hartley would provide time for both parties in negotiation to reach a deal on a new labor contract. We understand labor negotiations are complex, but we urge you to protect our economy by invoking Taft-Hartley and avoiding a work stoppage,” she added.